Wine on the Radio - October 10, 2003

Dessert Wine                    Recommendations

Everyone at The Wine Experience loves dessert.   But instead of cake, cookies or ice cream we love to sip a sweet dessert wine.

Now, when we say "sweet", some folks say "yuck."   But late harvest dessert wines are scrumptious enough to stand alone.

The grapes are left on the vine longer and picked after the normal harvest.   Some are then dried even further before pressing.   Others come from grapes that have a fungus called Botrytis . . . hang on, it's a good thing . . . These grapes have more concentrated flavor and higher sugar content.

With these wines, you taste more than sweetness.   The wines are intensely flavorful . . . almost like a spoon of honey.

The classic examples are from Germany and France but even Canada and northern Michigan make a terrific dessert wine called Ice Wine.   It's actually made from grapes that freeze on the vines.   Talk about late harvest!

Pop the cork™ and pass the dessert!       Listen to the show

Some Dessert Wines . . . All Prices Approximate

Ch. Castelnau de Suduiraut 1997 Sauternes $35
Bordeaux, France
Winemaker's Notes
Beautiful concentration of fruit. Attractive aromas of pineapple and wood

1998 Ch. Coutet Sauternes $40
WS 85-89 points, Plenty of honey, lemon and lime in this young wine. Medium-bodied, medium sweet, with a spicy finish

Ch. Guiraud 1997 Sauternes $55
Bordeaux, France
wine.com Notes
Chateau Guiraud is one of the largest estates in the French Sauternes appellation

Inniskillin 2001 Ice Wine Gold Oak Aged (half bottle) $75
Canada
Winemaker's Notes
Icewine is nectar of the gods - some of the hardest to make, most intense wine in the world

Ch. d'Yquem 1997 Sauternes (half-bottle) $190
Bordeaux, France
Winemaker's Notes
"A sensational Yquem, 1997 may be this estate's finest effort since 1990"